It took a few months to get to the new Wegmans at the former DuPont Barley Mill site off Route 141. Vacations and holiday stuff had us driving by the busy mixed-use center near Greenville developed by locally based Pettinaro.
In a way, that might have been a good thing. The upstate New York grocer knows how to tempt customers by putting their to-go goodies and dining items at the front of the store.
By the time we left, the shopping cart had excellent cookies along with to-go containers of fried rice, green beans, mac and cheese, and sesame chicken, not to mention a slice of white pizza that featured fresh garlic rather than powder. That item did not leave the store.
The Barley Mill store is smaller than its counterpart on Route 202 in Concordville due, in part, to the lack of a wine and beer department, and, one would guess, the effects of inflation and energy costs.
Still, Barley Mill seems to have most of the offerings of the Concordville store, including Wegmans house brands as well as seafood minus the typical fishy smell and meat, along with an impressively long shelf of pre-packaged salads.
It is worth noting that Wegmans’ house brands make the grocer a more formidable competitor in an increasingly crowded market that now includes deep discounter Aldi, as well as mainstays like Shoprite, Food Lion, and Acme.
While competitors tend to knock a quarter or so off house items when compared to national brands, Wegmans seems to have deeper discounts, with an occasional promotion like a 59-cent can of green beans. Wegmans does not overprice milk, something families will appreciate. There was a time when we drove past Barley Mill to a convenience store further down Lancaster Pike that featured cheaper milk.
Wegmans has not forgotten the entertainment side of shopping and runs an operating toy train above a portion of the store. It’s nothing new. Toy trains are a key part of the massive stores of Stew Leonard’s, a southern New England grocer with massive stores. The entertaining feature has largely disappeared.
The latest casualty is Nicola Pizza, which reportedly failed to take the train along when moving from downtown Rehoboth Beach to Coastal Highway. An update – the Nicola train is back, but is not running. It has not done so in years.
With this Wegmans a short distance away from the Biden home, the next question is when or if the president will pay a public visit during his frequent weekend trips.
Don’t bet on it as the First Couple prefers the Janssen’s market a short distance away in Greenville. Janssen’s has ahi tuna and other pricy offerings you see at Wegmans. It is also locally owned.
A look at the Open Secrets site indicates that the New York company’s $143,000 in 2022 campaign contributions went to Biden’s party with the exception of a few thousand that went to the Republican National Committee.
Then again, if Wegmans sets up an ice cream counter, it might be enough for a presidential stopover, although Biden typically does his ice cream photo ops out on the road. – Doug and Sharon Rainey
